Beneath the Surface-chapter 1
by Assassin and Fichan
Summary: Vegeta's past life comes back to haunt him and Bulma comfort's him. (in a non-lemony way)


(Disclaimer: WE ARE POOR. WE OWN NOTHING. We are only doing this because we are sadly obsessed with DBZ. If you sue us you will get the amount of brain cells located in the nearest postbox i.e. NONE. Plus, Sin has a job, as you can tell and will use you for homework.)

Sin says: thank you for all your reviews for my previous fanfics. I'll put up my own fics soon. 8)

Chapter One

Bulma was lying in bed looking up at the ceiling contemplating her latest project, when she heard a soft whimper. It gradually turned from a whimpering to a wailing, which got louder and louder. Unsure of where it came from, she decided to go and investigate. She got up and wandered down the corridor, after pulling on a dressing gown. She followed the sound and found herself at Vegeta's bedroom door; she quietly pushed it open and saw Vegeta curled up in a foetal position on his bed. She walked up to him and seeing he was asleep, reached over to gently shake him awake. As she touched him, he thrashed out and sent her flying.

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Vegeta wandered the dreamland. It was not the first time that he had had nightmares but this was one of the worst yet. Bulma had made a comment earlier on while they were fighting and it had brought back long discarded memories of his childhood. 

He found himself a chibi of seven or eight, standing in front of a figure that loomed, garish and pink, over the tiny prince. The thin black lips curled themselves into a thin smile at the sight of the hated monkey Prince trying to hide his trembling in front of the terrible warlord. Frieza stepped forward and traced the tip of his index finger down the young Prince's jaw line. He chuckled softly as the Prince froze with barely contained fear and a rage born of that fear.

Without warning, the tyrant whipped his tail out and wrapped it around the little Saiyans throat. Vegeta whimpered and lifted his hands and gripped the tail for relief of pain as Frieza lifted him up bodily by his neck. His legs kicked as he began to choke but Frieza only lifted him higher, tilting him, and examining him critically. 

"Short little thing aren't you." Frieza hissed. "How anything so pathetic could ever be an asset to me I don't know. But then, you are a Saiyan. I suppose I can teach you to become an adequate addition to my little army." 

Vegeta was going blue. Frieza snapped his tail out and threw Vegeta into a wall. This is when Vegeta unconsciously started the wailing that Bulma had heard. He was too stunned to retaliate as Frieza lashed his tail out again, picking up the Prince and bouncing him onto the floor. As Frieza's fist flew towards him he finally collected his wits enough to hit back.

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"Vegeta!" Bulma cried out at him. He sat up and stared at her blindly, screaming at her to keep away. "Vegeta, what is wrong with you?" She asked, a look of terror in her eyes. He jumped out of bed and slumped down to the floor.

"I want to go home," Vegeta wailed "Why did you take me? Where is my Father?" He looked tearfully up at Bulma. She bent down to Vegeta's crouched level and looked in his eyes.

"Vegeta, what are you talking about? Your planet was destroyed years ago and you know your father is dead." She answered his questions.

"Dead!" He wailed. Then he started screaming hysterically. "What are you talking about, my Father is not dead. How dare you tell me lies. I am Vegeta, Prince of Saiyans and you shall pay!"

Bulma wondered why Vegeta was acting this way, until she noticed that his eyes were glazed over. It occurred to her that he was basically sleepwalking. So she decided that the best thing to do was to agree with what he said and try to calm him down.

"I'm sorry, your highness." She said, in a desperate attempt to pacify him. "You are right, your father and planet are perfectly fine." This did not seem to appease him.

"Do you think I care? Where is my father and why have you taken me away from my people?" He was silent for a minute, and then he screamed at the top of his lungs. "I am not a brat, I am the Prince of the Saiy......" He broke off in another scream. He curled into a tight ball and lay there as tears began to flow down his face. "Please leave me alone." He whimpered. "Please, Master Frieza."

Bulma blinked in surprise at these words. Up until now, the Saiyan Prince had shown no feelings other than hatred and contempt for her and her family. Even before he had moved in to live with them he had shown a sadistic sense of humour, no mercy and an overwhelming capacity to inflict violence on others. Now she was beginning to see the deeply buried, almost extinguished, feelings that Frieza had forced him to suppress, under his rule, the feelings that he had continued to quench in a desperate attempt to silence his conscience. She saw in front of her a scared young boy, who, though a Prince, was still a lost, young child.

Bulma went over to him to try to help him up, but as she reached to touch him he flinched and became hysterical all over again. She jumped backwards as Vegeta swung his fist at her and screamed fitfully at her to stay back. Bulma sighed, *Not this again! * 

Then she said, carefully and clearly, "Vegeta I will not hurt you." Vegeta looked up at her, and more tears traced a path down his face to drip of the end of his chin.

"What do you want?" He asked defensively. 

"Vegeta," she pleaded."Please tell me what's going on."

"You know what's going on. You saw what he did to me." He growled. "And you didn't stop him you green freak."

Bulma blinked in shock at the insult and then screamed back at him, "How dare you insult me, you pointy haired monkey!" While slapping him across the face.

Vegeta sprang up, spitting mad. He growled at Bulma and yelled, "Baka, coward. I thought you had more respect for yourself than to pick on a chibi."

Bulma had no idea how to respond to this, so she decided to prompt the rest of the conversation by asking a question. "How old are you anyway?"

Vegeta stood, drawing himself up in a way that looked painful to Bulma, although he hadn't received any injuries.

"Seven and a half standard years."


End file.
